User blog:Toxictangent/Fall 2017 Progress Log
November 11th: Happy Single's Day, everyone. It's been a long while since I've but in a concerted effort into events- I have dipped into previous events, all except for Spring 2017, and made little noteworthy headway. I did clear E2 on Normal in Summer 2016, and more recently E1, 2, and 3 on Easy in Summer 2017. However, due to this my resources have taken quite a hit and are nowhere near my levels in the last progress log, for Spring 2016. Therefore, the real limiting factor will be my consumables as I am currently sitting on 146 buckets which is not a lot at all. This number is also after concerted efforts to hoard buckets over a series of weekends. I only have free time on the weekends to Teitoku, which is the other limiting factor for my progress in this upcoming event. I realised that I should've started event preparations after the closure of the previous event, as this would have left me in a much better situation than I am now. However, I am glad to report of some level increases and some new faces in the fleet: Nagato has reached Kai, and I have welcomed Shokaku and Souryuu to the fleet. Both of these new additions will give me a lot more flexibility in operations (carrier wise) so I am glad for their arrival. I have also been graced with Akashi, Mizuho, Hatakaze, Kazagumo, Takanami, Yamagumo, and Amagiri. In other news, Ooyodo has reached Kai, which gives me the crucial Fleet Command Facility which could drastically improve sortie clearance rates. In between Summer 2017 and the upcoming Fall event was the usual Saury fishing mini-event, which explains the further depletion of my resources and buckets. However, I believe the event to be a resounding success as I have earned a valuable piece of equipment from it- the fabled Wurfgerat 42, which gives destroyers an edge against installation bosses. Gone are the days where I only have Type 3 shells as the only answer to their threat. Though my resources are on the low side, I believe my fleet is much better equipped for the event than before thanks to the efforts of Summer 2017 and the Saury event. Training will start to taper and give way as I scramble to hoard as many buckets as I can. At least I still have some buffer time when the events start to hoard, while I let the frontliners do their thing and gather all the important intel we need. November 17th: The event starts today. I'm making a mad dash for some last minute buckets and useful equipment, as well as resources. Frontliners are already doing their good work, and I have gotten some intel on the maps and enemies that the event has in store. BB Hime shows up fairly early, but apparently she is a pushover in the early maps so I shouldn't worry too much. I've sent the expedition fleets on their overnight runs and kept bucket usage at zero, for hoarding purposes. I must state again that I am severely limited by time and resources, so I will put in my best effort given my current circumstances. I haven't uploaded my roster just yet as there is still some way to go before I begin event operations. I should wait about 2 days more for intel to fully disseminate downwards to my humble base. But for now, I'm getting kind of tired so I'll sign off for today. November 18th: I will begin event operations tomorrow. The trend that I am seeing is Medium gives a lot better rewards than Easy. Should I chance it? Or maybe I shouldn't be too greedy considering my resources... I have seen fleet compositions consisting of level 80+ ships and the admiral in question complaining of being stuck at a map. Maybe I will give it a try and see if it is worthwhile. In the meantime, I will upload my event roster and equipment as that is unlikely to change drastically at this point. All kinds of ship classes are banned in E1, leaving a set of 2CAV, 1CL and 3DD. I will field Kumano and Mogami for sure, and then Kiso, Yukikaze, Ayanami, and Akatsuki. I may replace one of the DDs for Akitsumaru for added air power if needed. All the best for tomorrow, I guess. Event Operations Event Roster and Equipment: a2dba425-2306-4298-8345-c38c24ab8c18.jpg|Fall 2017 Ship Roster 99ca6fe4-2123-4f77-9988-a98f9aa83884.jpg|Fall 2017 Equipment List November 19th: I didn't have a lot of time to sortie today as I was out. My initial setup was the aforementioned fleet, but little did I know that unlocking the boss node was a feat in itself- requiring 3 anchor points unlocked before even seeing the node itself! There were a lot of aerial bombardment nodes in E1, which meant that my LBAS was always on the move and morale become a time limiting factor. Another issue that I ran into was getting the LOS to pass while also having some sort of air presence. Akitsumaru became the designated reppu mule, but this meant that my LOS checks would always fail at the crucial moment when it can to branching nodes. The conclusion I reached was that I had to sacrifice air presence for a good enough LOS value to proceed to the correct nodes. Therefore, my final team for engaging the boss was Ashigara, Mogami, Jintsuu, Fubuki, Yuudachi, and Hibiki. I felt uneasy about bringing out so many of my best destroyers so early, but then again this was medium difficulty after all! It certainly saved me from heavy bucket usage by reliably S-ranking at the boss. However, the final dance proved to turn the tables- I was unable to touch the boss, and things weren't looking good in the day battle. As I entered the night segment, I wondered if I had finally bitten off more than I could chew, and whether i would have to consider starting again in easy mode. However, the three ships in my fleet that were still capable of fighting managed to nuke an abyssal a piece, halving the opposing fleet. This was where I saw the potential that my fleet had in clearing the boss- I just had to ensure better survivability in the day, and let them slay at night. Hibiki and Jintsuu were switched out for Shigure and Sendai. I also shifted all LBAS to focus fire on the boss node- taking the risk to leave my fleet unprotected against the air bombardment in the node just before. With the best of my light fleet brought to bear, and the added air support, my fleet escaped heavy damage in the day and sunk 2 abyssals. In the ensuing night battle, the rest of the enemy fleet were blown to smithereens, with Fubuki landing the killing blow on the boss like the true anime protagonist she is. As of 0100 on Novmeber 20th, E-1 is cleared on Normal difficulty. The decision to play on Normal payed off, as I have earned myself a skilled aircraft, even it is only a seaplane recconnaissance craft! Along the way I also picked up Etorofu, my first DE. This has been a very successful first day. Mogami earns the MVP award for E-1 for her reliable all-round support. With Zuiuns, she was able to assist in ASW and prevent the enemy from attaining air supremacy. She also dealt decisive blows in the boss runs with her day and night shelling. Fubuki deserves recognition too for her freqeunt AACIs and that dramatic final blow to the boss. Yup, a true anime protagonist. November 20th: E-2 operations began today. Just like E-1, there were infuriating pre-conditions needed to unlock the second start point in order to reach the boss node. I had to put together an ASW fleet to S rank the submarine princess lurking in node J. The initial roster was Mogami, Myoukou, Ashigara, Isuzu, Yukikaze, and Shimakaze. However, as the sorties went on I realised that I also had to cater for adequate anti-air defences to fend off the air raids. Later on, it became apparent that a second shelling phase was necessary if I ever hoped to S rank the submarine princess at all. My optimal phase 1 fleet then ended up being Mogami, Ashigara, Kirishima, Isuzu, Yuudachi, and Shigure. Even at this point, I was unable to achieve the S rank. I was giving all I had, and it wasn't enough for E-2 on Medium to be a possibility. With a bitter heart, I switched the difficulty to easy. There was really no point in burning my already scant resources and buckets to push for a medium clear, as nice as a Prototype Toukai or Type 2 Depth Charge might be. I have to concentrate on the long game, to get as many event exclusive and useful ships as I could. So with my best fleet for the job restarting at easy, I was able to finally S rank the submarine princess and open up the way for the TP fleet to face the true boss of the map. In adherence to the branching rules, I swapped out Kirishima and Isuzu for Abukuma and Maya for a mix of good shelling and AA capabilities. This was also a chance for me to try out the Strike Force, a 7 ship fleet gimmick that was newly introduced for this event. I added in Yukikaze, and loaded up the 3 destroyers with 3 buckets each. For each S rank, I would be able to pull 66 TP points from the total, with A ranks netting me 46. Despite a few hiccups, I was still able to S or at least A rank the boss most of the times, with some unlucky episodes such as Red-T or a lucky strike from an Air Raid impeding my progress. As I reached the final stages of E-2, I received intel regarding the boss' final formation. The pesky Na-class destroyers were back, flanked by 2 Ta-class Battleships... All of them would hit like 18-wheelers unless I proceeded with utmost caution! It was time to pull out all the stops. Abukuma was swapped with Kitakami for her opening torpedo strike. A boss support expeditionary fleet was formed, with Kongou spearheading the shelling and accompanied by Haruna, Hiei, Hibiki, Shimakaze, and Kaga. I also replaced my fighters for bombers in the ensuing LBAS to try and whittle down the boss fleet's numbers during the day. On the first run facing the final boss formation, the fleet faced attrition in the nodes prior to the boss. A chance closing torpedo strike left Kitakami at medium damage, and the following Air Raid brought Yukikze down to medium damage too. At the boss node itself, the support expeditition failed to trigger, and the LBAS only did chip damage to the enemy fleet, leaving my team to fend for themselves. Heavy damage was sustained, but at the end of the night battle phase there was only the boss left at light damage, which again made me see the potential that the fleet had in finishing the job. Too many things had gone wrong, but perhaps it was just a fluke. I repaired the fleet damages and resupplied the support expedition, after which promptly sending them on their way. The next sortie was done much better in terms of attrition mitigation- only chip damage was sustained in the first Air Raid, and a Red T saved my fleet from big hits in the surface battle against the Ta-classes. The only dent in between me and the boss was the second Air Raid which critted Maya to medium damage. Still, we had a shot at taking down the boss. True enough, at the boss node everything seemed to go right. The combined efforts of the LBAS and the support expedition that finally triggered managed to neutralise a Ta-class and the enemy aircraft carrier, giving us air supremacy at last! Frantic shelling ensued and by the end of the day phase we were three in the orange, but so was the boss. With Ashigara, Kitakami, Yuudachi, Yukikaze, and Shigure primed for night battle, victory was certain. Sure enough, Ashigara sealed the deal with a massive night crit that heralded the end of E-2's clearance efforts. Along the way I picked up Kamikaze when I was forced to quit at node L due to a ship suffering heavy damage. The ensuing night battle converted it into an S-rank victory, and there she was! Neat. Ashigara is the well deserved MVP for E-2, being a backbone for the fleet in providing shelling power in day and night. She also helped in AA efforts, and held her own against the formidable Ta-class battleships. Let's not forget that she was also the final stroke that felled the heavy cruiser princess. Yukikaze deserves special mention for this map due to the utility she brought to the fleet in the final phase. Her starshells and extra buckets all helped to expedite the clearing of the map, which perhaps would not have been done so quickly without! This ends the operations for today. I will not be able to play again until perhaps the 24th, so I am sending my expedition fleets on long term resource runs to mitigate my losses. Till next time. November 24th: E-3 operations began today. It was a real marathon of a map, as it comprised of 3 phases to clear. The first phase involved sending a surface task force to eliminate the BB Hime residing in the south. There was not much to this phase at all, as I simply brought my power players to bear and promptly stormed through with the Kongou sisters and the Chitose sister duo in the main fleet. A choice escort fleet of Myoukou, Isuzu, Hatsuzuki, Yukikaze, and the Ooi-Kami duo picked up any of the slack that the main fleet were unable to elminate. Each of these ships in the escort fleet had a specific role to play, and boy did they do them well. The BB Hime went down in 3 sorties. Phase 2 promptly unlocked, which was another transport phase to clear. This time, there was no strike force to organise; just the normal transport fleet. I put together Kumano, Mogami, Ushio, Ayanami, Shimakaze and Akatsuki to be the main fleet for surface battles and barrel mules. The escort fleet was initially Naka, Yuudachi, Shigure, Hatsuzuki, Hibiki, and Myoukou. I thought I was able to do a bit of levelling here, especially for Naka. However, I ended up having to choose between levelling and switfly clearing the phase, and I reluctantly chose the latter. The fleet command facility I got from Ooyodo really shone through here, as unlucky hits that brought my escort fleet ships to heavy damage were commonplace, and the FCF saved the whole fleet from returning and wasting the sortie effort. I was having trouble S-ranking the boss. I could get away with it due to being a TP rather than a HP bar to deplete, but it was not an efficient way to clear the stage. Even after swapping Naka and Myoukou for Kiso and Choukai, it was still imposible. However, I was able to get away with A rank victories and eventually chipped the TP bar down to 0. I suppose the FCF did increase my efficiency in the long run by making sure that every sortie was one that was useful- as in, it contributed to the depletion of the TP bar, which I am pleased about. So far, I have had no wasted sorties in this map! I even picked up my third DE, Matsuwa, in this map. Tomorrow (or later today since it is past midnight) I will take a shot at phase 3 of this map. For now, I will send the fleets on overnight sorties and get some rest. November 25th: This phase called for a carrier task force, and after some consideration I have fielded Taihou, the Chitose sisters, Ashigara, Maya, and Choukai as the main fleet. The escort fleet is led by Yahagi, followed by Myoukou, Hatsuzuki, Yukikaze, and a rotation of Shigure, Fubuki, and Yuudachi where needed. I have hit a wall. The chipping sorties for the CV hime were fairly straightforward and I had no trouble bringing the boss to it's last dance. Once the formation changed though, my series of unfortunate events also began. The upgrade of the accompanying Wo-classes to flagship models and replacing fodder with Tsu-class cruisers have really affected my ability to decimate their fleet in the day. I have relied a lot on Yukikaze's torpedo cut in to dish out the killing blow, and now the challenge is to make sure she survives and activates her cut in on the boss during night battle, which I have not been able to do for various reasons, being: Yukikaze gets rekt and is unable to trigger the cut in while sustaining medium damage. To be fair, it doesn't happen often. Her enablers which help her to trigger the cut in are not able to assist during night battle, as they are away escorting a previously heavily damaged ship or are heavily damaged themselves. This is the more common scenario. Her enablers are heavily damaged and cannot activate star shell or flashlight, which means that the TCI more often than not doesn't activate. Left with no choice, I have begun to send my other fleets on node and boss support expeditions, but so far they haven't seen much action due to a lot of unlucky episodes bring my fleet home, even with the FCF helping me to cut my losses. It has been quite a frustrating few runs as I am so close to clearing E3! I am now waiting for my fleet's morale to recover before trying again. I have swapped Ashigara for Fusou to see if a second round of shelling can help to thin the numbers of the enemy fleets in the day. Of course, this is a double edged sword as it opens my own fleet up to further attack. (An hour or so later) At last. My fleet have pulled through and ended the CV hime. They managed to escape significant damage in the first air raid, and in the subsequent surface battle only Hatsuzuki was brought to medium damage. The next two battles were handled well and only scratch damage was taken which brought Chiyoda, Fusou and Maya to light damage. Despite this, my fleet was in the best condition it had ever been before the boss, and as such was poised for victory. Just as well, 'One Final Effort' started to play which set the mood for the battle impeccably. The opening overtures of the final battle saw the enemy escort fleet whittled to half due to LBAS and boss support expedition fleets participating in battle. The fleet maintained a tight grasp on air superiority, and with all 3 carriers doing their utmost to remain operational and rain death on the enemy, the enemy's battleships and air presence were nullified. My escort fleet went ahead to round up and neutralise the enemy's remaining destroyers and light cruisers, and by the end of the day phase we had full night battle participation against a lightly damaged CV hime, a Ne-class heavy cruiser and a Wo-class elite carrier, both in the orange. With all our night battle equipment activated, the escort fleet went into a rampage that night. Yahagi began the strike on the CV hime, and Myoukou followed suit with an absolutely devastating night double attack that blew the CV hime straight to the bottom of the sea. Yuudachi and Fubuki formed the clean-up party and switfly dispatched of the remaining ships. In all this fire, the ace in the hole Yukikaze lay waiting to unleash a strike that in the end was never needed. A resounding success after a series of setbacks, and perhaps a great cure to the accumulating salt too! Yukikaze is without a doubt the MVP for E-3. During the chipping phase, her TCI was absolutely crucial in getting the clean kills needed to reach last dance. She was a pivotal part of the fleet- indeed, many of the occasions where I pulled back were due to Yukikaze being unable to support the fleet in the boss node. She was also a solid evader, rarely getting hit to medium damage at all. A real lucky devil, indeed. Hatsuzuki deserves special mention for her continuous support throughout the entire E-3 map. Though Fubuki, Yuudachi, and Shigure played rotation roles throughout the event, Hatsuzuki was the only one in all E-3 fleets to have a 100% participation rate. With her AACIs and her participation in both day and night battles as part of the escort fleet, she is one that I have come to rely on greatly. As previously mentioned, I was lucky to obtain Matsuwa whilst trying to clear phase 2 of E3, bringing my total number of DEs to 3. It's always nice to get an event exclusive ship. December 10th: With the weekend coming to a close, my event operations officially come to a close. I have been doing my best to farm during the weekends, which to be honest wasn’t very fruitful at first. I went for a couple of weekends picking up a variety of heavy cruisers, 2 Amatsukazes, an extra Nagato, and one noteworthy new destroyer which was Tokitsukaze. Needless to say, it has been exacting on my sanity, and I have reduced my salt intake in my diet to compensate for the buildup in my system. Just as I began to type up today’s entry, I sent the fleet on what was to be the last sortie for the event. In the second battle, Hatsuzuki was waylaid by a stray torpedo, and had to be brought back by Yuudachi. Things did not seem ideal as I had a diminished fleet for the job. Yet, at the boss node we were primed for success due to the efforts of the LBAS and the closing torpedo strike. Shigure laid waste to the boss in the ensuing night battle, and there it was. I-400. She existed after all! If this wasn’t a happy ending to weekends of struggle, I don’t know what is. Post Event Debriefing Overall, this event has been a moderate success given the little time I had to prepare, and the constraints that I had with regards to time and resources. Though I started with a reserve that was reeling from the after effects of the previous two events (with limited recharge time) I felt that I had punched above my weight in terms of event progress. Some key achievements and definite highlights for my naval base for this event were the following: 1. Securing the skilled recon seaplane through a mostly swift clearing of E1 on normal difficulty. 2. Slogging through the various intermediary stages of E3 and finally slaying the last boss, to complete the main event maps. 3. Obtaining the strike force command facility, an equipment that did not see use in this event but will definitely be pivotal in Winter 2018. 4. After several weekends of fruitless labour, finally obtaining I-400 on the very last planned sortie of the event. Part of this event’s success was brought about by making smart and timely decisions with regards to resource management. Forgoing E4 to commence farming and choosing E3 TP phase over other maps to concentrate on were ways in which I managed to utilise my resources fully with attainable results. Intel was used very wisely throughout the event, and the management of fleet organisation and certain map mechanics made the sorties a lot smoother, especially with the full potential of the fleet command facility finally being brought to bear. This event was also one that provided a lot of learning pointers, particularly in the utilisation of the fleet command facility, LBAS, and morale management. I learned to be discerning in when to activate the FCF, as in the following scenario: when a ship is critically damaged in the first node, it is more worth to retreat and repair than to activate the FCF and carry on if chances of victory are notably affected. This is because using the FCF greatly impacts the morale of the returning ships and reduces the frequency of sorties in the long term due to the longer time needed for morale to recharge. Based on intel and the results of this event, my goals for the next event are the following: 1. Stockpile resources to put my naval base in a better start state than before this event, especially in the way of buckets. 2. Modernise all recently remodeled ships to at least 4 stars before the next event, to maximise their usefulness in combat. 3. Try to obtain more radars and seaplane fighters, through development and improvement. 4. Continue leveling up future historical ships for Winter 2018 (e.g. Shoukaku) Through it all, the participants displayed a great deal of effort and skill, and have certainly gained a lot in levels and experience. The most comforting thing about a successful event is that it puts the base in a much better position to deal with the next event, should all preparations be in place. Till next time. Category:Blog posts